Oconee planners want to nix permit for kids homes

Posted: Tuesday, May 18, 1999

By Eric GonzalezStaff Writer

WATKINSVILLE -- Oconee County's planning commission has recommended that county commissioners deny issuance of a conditional use permit that would allow establishment of three homes for foster children on a 70-acre tract south of the Farmington community.

North Georgia Christian Family Services Inc., a non-profit organization that has owned the property off Old Salem Road since the mid-1990s, proposed the eventual construction of three 6,000-square-foot homes that would each house eight to 10 children, along with an office building.

Three houseparents trained in social work or related fields would supervise the homes, tentatively called Bent Tree Children's Home, under the proposal.

Planning commission members apparently agreed with several area residents who said the plans were too ambiguous. The commission voted 5-3 to recommend denial of the permit shortly after the applicants agreed to table the request one month and submit more information.

''I just don't feel like I know enough about this to support it at this point,'' said Wilson White, a planning commission member.

After the vote, Rooney Wilson, development director for the applicant, said, ''I'm disappointed, but we'll do more and come back.''

The rural southern Oconee site was chosen by the organization so the foster children could ''see God's work'' and possibly learn life skills, said James Griffith, who has housed foster children for several years.

Included in the proposal were six acres of pastureland, a garden and a greenhouse.

Janice Harvey, an adjacent property owner, said she represented a majority of area residents with concerns about quality of life.

''We know their hearts are in the right place ... but we have to look out for our community,'' she said. ''It's hard to control situations with children the way we'd like to.''

North Georgia Christian Family Services Inc. has 11 or 12 board members from Oconee, Clarke and Oglethorpe counties, Griffith said. It had hoped to build the first home this summer, with the next to be built in the next five years.

The homes would have to be licensed by the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

The proposal will be examined by the county commission at its June 1 meeting, with permit issuance unlikely due to the planning commission disapproval.